Category: Renting Safely

If you're in the market for a new apartment this spring you will probably be subject to a background check. Landlords tend to screen tenants by checking their credit reports, verifying their income and calling previous landlords. But when I was working for local landlords as an agent I would also plug tenants' names into search engines and social media sites as part of my standard background check procedure.

While not every landlord screens their tenants as thoroughly, I can definitely say I was not alone in using social media as a way of getting the full picture of an applicant. In a tight market, questionable content on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even your Reddit account can mean you lose out on your apartment of choice.

Today I'm going to go over precautions you should take with your social media accounts to make sure you are safe from the prying eyes of picky landlords. Continue reading How to Clean Up your Social Media for Apartment Hunting

The term "alternative truth" has seen a lot of use in the media lately as a way to describe information put forth as true by the White House Administration despite considerable photographic and financial evidence to the contrary. The techniques of spinning the truth, downplaying negative facts in favor of positive ones and outright lying to sell an idea or object to the public are not new. Top performers in a wide variety of professions use "alternative truth" every day to make a ton of cash.

But this is, of course, a blog about real estate: the profession that makes it legal to exaggerate, spin the truth and obscure the facts. For a real estate agent, a tiny sliver of pond becomes a "waterfront view" and a house that's about to collapse into the ground is "fixer upper in need of some TLC." It's called "puffing" and it is actually legal. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) bans puffing in the Code of Ethics that governs its members, but your average rental agent in Chicago is not a member of NAR and not bound by their Code.

Today we're going to take apart some of the techniques used by leasing agents to guide your housing decisions. Not all of them are used to mislead or deceive you: sometimes an agent could be using propaganda to keep you from making a dangerous choice. However, when you see an agent laying it on too thick or using psychological shenanigans to distract you from major problems, we think you'll be grateful for this crash course in real estate "alternative truth." Continue reading Alternative Truth, Propaganda and Real Estate

When something breaks in your apartment and it isn't your fault, who is to blame: the landlord who didn't fix it before you moved in, or the tenants who came before you and broke it in the first place? After all, the prior tenants have certainly spent more time in the space than your landlord has. In a best case scenario the landlord might have had a month to make repairs between occupants. In a more normal situation, he or she had a few hours to put on a fresh coat of paint and do some basic cleaning.

Given the average age of rental housing in Chicago, you're probably not the first occupant. Sometimes when tenants move out they may take all their belongings but leave behind their baggage. Landlords are under no obligation to tell you anything about prior residents, and you may not be able to dig up anything about them. Even so you need to protect yourself from any problems they may have created. Today we'll be going over some preventive measures you can take to minimize potential risks left behind from those who lived there before you, and talking a bit about how to respond to unexpected consequences of prior tenants' behavior. Continue reading Don’t Get Stuck Carrying Prior Tenants’ Baggage! Protect Yourself With This Guide.